‘Cannibal’ killer Stefano Brizzi has been found dead just three months after being found guilty of murdering an Inverness police officer.
Brizzi murdered PC Gordon Semple after meeting him on Grindr and inviting the officer to his flat in central London.
The 50-year-old said he was inspired by his favourite TV series as he tried to get away with killing 59-year-old Pc Gordon Semple by also dissolving his flesh in an acid bath.
Brizzi denied trying to cannibalise parts of Pc Semple by cooking and then biting into a rib found in his kitchen bin.
But at his sentencing, the prosecution said an expert odontologist had since confirmed that even though Brizzi claimed not to remember it, he had in fact tried to eat human flesh.
Following his arrest, Brizzi admitted killing and trying to dissolve the body of the policeman because “Satan told me to”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court at the time of Brizzi’s trial, Pc Semple’s older brother, Ronald Semple, said his sibling had been regarded as a “Dixon of Dock Green character”.
He said his brother first took a job at RBS but then joined the police in October 1993 and completed more than 30 years’ service.
He ran several marathons and organised trips to France and elsewhere for charity.
Pc Semple was said to be a “caring and gentle person” and “much loved” by his family, who were left devastated with the news of his murder.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Belmarsh prisoner Stefano Brizzi died in custody on Sunday 5 February.
“As with all deaths in custody there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”
